Spoon: They Want My Soul

You might be surprised to learn that 2014 marks 21 years of Spoon as a band. But it’s only with their last three albums that the Texans have benefitted from a surge of interest and steadily improving chart positions. Their eighth is possibly Spoon’s best yet, encompassing offbeat musical passages (Outlier), lighthearted canters (Let Me Be Mine) and jangly 1960s beat-pop (They Want My Soul). Britt Daniel’s voice remains a defining aspect of the Spoon sound, its tattered rasp intensifying the film noir-esque strum of Rainy Taxi as pliantly as it croons the bluesy bar lament of I Just Don’t Understand. Their trademark groove-heavy basslines are scattered liberally throughout, making immobility unfeasible on Inside Out and New York Kiss. That winning combination of refined funk, indie and innovation makes for an impossibly likeable album. spoontheband.com. Download: They Want My Soul, Outlier